In 1970, Deutsche Gramophone were recording the complete Bach oeuvre and had a problem when it came to record the lute suites. Apparently numerous lute players of the day turned down the invitation, saying the works were too difficult. The guitarist, Narciso Yepes, famed for his invention and advocacy of the modern ten-string classical guitar, accepted the challenge. He is the only musician to record the complete Bach solo lute music on both the lute and guitar. Apparently he once recorded a suite on the lute in one tuning in the morning, and performed the same suite in a concert that afternoon on the guitar in a different tuning and arrangement.
Here is the info taken from the 1973 (some of the music was recorded in 1972) LP notes regarding the lute he used: 14c theorbo-lute by Nicolaas Bernard van der Waals, based on several originals including a Tielke, Vienna. Length from angle of neck to end of body: 77.6cms Length of body 49.6cms Width of body 34.8 Depth of body 16.5 Length of neck: 28.1 Body Rio rosewood Sounding board spruce Peg-box maple Pegs cocobolo His tunings seem to have been quite inventive: G minor suite (treble to bass) fdafda G F Eb D C Bb A G E minor gebgeb A G F# E D C B PFA g eb bb g eb bb Ab G F Eb D C Bb Ab Cm g eb c g eb c G F Eb D C Bb Ab Little Prelude in Cm fdafda G F# Eb D Fugue in Gm fdafda G F Eb D C Bb A E Major suite Prelude: g# e b a e b A G# F# E D# C# B A for the rest of the suite the a on the fourth course becomes g# I have a pdf of the liner notes but not the recording, so I cant say anything about its sound or his interpretation. However, as a historical first, maybe we should acknowledge Yepes for the pioneering work he did as a lute player. Has anyone got this recording? Rob MacKillop -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
